Ooredoo gets 1 million customers in Myanmar

August 24, 2014 - 1:53:19 am

Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saudi Al Thani, Chairman of Ooredoo Group, led a group of Ooredoo Qatar and Ooredoo Myanmar officials to meet the Vice President of Myanmar, U Nyan Tun, at the Presidential Palace in Naypyidaw. The meeting was attended by Jaber Ali Al Dosari, the Qatari Ambassador to Thailand, who is also accredited to Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

DOHA: Ooredoo has reached the one million customer milestone in its newest market of Myanmar less than three weeks after going live with its services.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani, Chairman, Ooredoo Group, revealed the significant achievement in a special ceremony in the capital Naypyidaw, where he thanked the people of Myanmar for their warm welcome, and stressed the company’s commitment to serving the country.

Since the launch of Ooredoo in Myanmar, the company has seen unprecedented demand for its mobile phone and Internet services, with people queuing overnight to purchase a low-cost Ooredoo SIM. The team is striving to deliver up to customers’ expectations, offering crystal clear voice services and fast Internet.

The event offered thanks to customers, staff and partners who have made this achievement possible and the chairman challenged his team to go further in striving to improve services for customers.

It was attended by a number of prominent guests, including Sheikh Abdullah; U Myat Hein, Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology; Jaber Ali Al Dosari, Qatar’s Ambassador to Thailand, who is also accredited to Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos; Aziz Al Uthman Fakhroo, Ooredoo Group Board Member and Chairman of Ooredoo Myanmar; Dr Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Ooredoo; U Than Htun Aung, Director of Posts and Telecommunications Department; and Ross Cormack, CEO of Ooredoo Myanmar.

Demonstrating the potential for growth and strong appetite for data services in Myanmar, many customers are using mobile phones and accessing the Internet for the first time.

In his speech, Sheikh Abdullah expressed his delight at the strong interest, particularly from people who previously had not had the opportunity to benefit from mobile phones and access to the Internet, and said the response from customers had been “humbling”, such as one of the first customers — a father — who saw how it would give his son access to better education opportunities.

“I think of people like Daw Hla, another of our first customers. She’s a fisherwoman who had never used a mobile phone before our launch. She told us this was a ‘golden opportunity’ to reach out and connect her community through technology. To customers like Daw, I promise we will keep working hard to improve and enhance our services,” he added.

Ooredoo has installed the world’s first next-generation purely UMTS900 network throughout Myanmar, which will provide fast Internet and is primed to enable a smooth transition to a 4G LTE network in the future.

U Myat Hein, Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said: “Over the past few years, the Union Government and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology have worked hard to lay the foundations for the creation of a competitive telecommunications landscape that truly serves our people and we are closer than ever to achieving this.”

“This is truly a historic moment for our country, people, and the telecoms sector in Myanmar. My most heartfelt congratulations to the whole Ooredoo and Ooredoo Myanmar Limited team on your successful launch of Ooredoo service in Myanmar! And I am also glad to see you have kept your launch commitment,” he added.

Speaking of the challenges faced during the development stage, Ross Cormack, CEO Ooredoo Myanmar, praised the 1,000 employees of the Ooredoo Myanmar team, and stated that in keeping with the company’s tradition of hiring local talent, 800 of the team members were Myanmarese.

Alongside traditional sales and services jobs, which cover 6,500 dealers at launch and 30,000 points of sale for top ups, the company estimates that through the distribution network Ooredoo has supported approximately 50,000 new jobs for the people of Myanmar.